390- Oxford!

I continue my UK1018 blog series, with day 8 of our UK visit, going out London for the first and only time. 

This was on Friday 12th , bound for Oxford, a trip that we hadn't known we'd try until the previous Sunday, and which was planned by Graham on Monday. 


We hadn't had the proper time to coordinate this trip, nor to research how to get to Victoria station to grab the Oxford tube (which is actually a bus shuttle), nor did we know where it was precisely. The Via-van driver was nice, but he had only a vague idea of the location, as pointed to on the GPS. That ride was very stressful, because we ordered it a bit later than we should have - not realizing that in this early morning, rush hour, it'd take us over 45 minutes, even by car. We thought our Oxford bus would leave at 9, and as the hour drew closer and closer to it, and we still seemed quite far away, we both assumed we'd miss it under our nose (at best), and having to find our way back to the V&A as a plan B. We got there just before 9, found the proper stop, Graham and everyone else who was going with us, and also, that the bus was leaving at 9:14, so we still had a small margin. 

This trip barely started that we had to swap buses - ours was smoking and the driver had to wait for help. Luckily, the following bus was only minutes behind, and thus, we drove off. 

Oxford was a lovely city with a quaint touch, and gothic buildings. The Tolkien- maker of Middle Earth exhibit at the Weston library was marvelous and we enjoyed it a great deal - but for copyright reasons, no one was allowed to take photographs. So, here's the official signpost in front 

We saw some of Tolkien's personnal objects (writing desk and chair, his pipe), and many others, pertaining to his writing (original art, book-covers, manuscript pages, even a rejection letter). There were some of his books in international, translated editions, as well as explanations about his notes, his art and tables he'd made while preparing the story of the LOTR's fellowship and their individual movements, down to a hobbit's feet and consequent step-sizes, as he wished to be realistic in how far the hobbits could walk every day!

The best piece was a large table with a projected map in 3D relief, with an animation showing the fellowship's movements, with dates of key-events. I remained in front of it for about 10 minutes out of the hour that I visited the entire exhibit, before my feet started to hurt from all the walking and standing. 

We bought just a couple of keepsakes from the giftshop (a set of 4 pins and 2 bookmarks, one for us, one for our friend Antony, all showing Tolkien's art). 

Since weather was horrendously windy, we sought a spot to eat. We sadly had no real time to prepare and know the city enough, before visiting, to choose a fully vegan restaurant, and had initially planned to eat anything veg but in a public garden or parc, after my wife would buy it somewhere. That wind deterred us, and thus we ended in a reglar pizzeria, around 2 PM, rush hour. The place was quite full and we had to wait in front of it for a few moments before the hostess called us back in, as a table was freed a bit earlier than expected. 

We ordered a veggie pizza that we asked to be changed to vegan, swapping regular for vegan cheeese at no additional cost, and this sour dough pizza was absolutely delicious. We read that they bake it at 450°C in a wood fire, and we saw the oven is covered by some kind of cermatic tiles, which probably help baking it faster and more evenly.  I all heartedly suggest Franco Manca, at 12 George Street!  Even their WC were some of the cleanest public WC I'd ever been in and, an important note: they had a sink to wash one's hands right inside, not having to touch any door to go wash in a main hall! Kudos on that! 

I was sad and upset at myself for not tipping them when I was given the option, because I was thinking more of our budget and the fact that in France only hair dressers (to my knowledge) ever get tipped. After my wife explained, I guess I'll have to go back and before this, ask friends to visit and tip in my stead. 

After that, we walked a bit more between the pizzeria and Weston library, my wife drawing and me taking a few photos, before we reunited with Graham and the others (as they had gone to a second exhibit after Tolkien's). 

The trip back was very long, much longer than the way there. We had been stuck in traffic for a long while before we saw (and heard the driver) that there had been an accident. Upon arival to Victoria, it wasn't the same spot, so it took us a while to find the bus we needed to go back home, or rather, two buses as we had to connect at St Thomas Hopital again. By the time we got to the flat, it was already 8:45 PM, rather dark, and we had very light meal before we got ready for bed, after a mixed day that remains the highlight of the entire trip thanks to the Tolkien exhibit, and we luckily didn't get sick after all that wind, and I'm super proud for my achivement in eating in a regular pizzeria!!